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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/29017443">A Pale Corpse</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/Murderbirb/pseuds/Murderbirb'>Murderbirb</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>The Fallen King AU [1]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Hollow Knight (Video Games)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Cause we are in “ouch” central now!, Gen, Heavy Angst, Hurt No Comfort, The Pale king is good dad, or should I say was, prepare to cry</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2021-01-27</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2021-01-27</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-13 13:27:15</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Not Rated</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>1,667</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/29017443</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/Murderbirb/pseuds/Murderbirb</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>She stood next to the body. It was lifeless. His dark eyes never blinked. He didn’t respond as she gripped his pale hand. He did nothing about his bleeding wounds.</p><p>He was gone.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>The Fallen King AU [1]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/series/2129280</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>12</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>26</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>A Pale Corpse</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>The King was sitting in the courtyard, drinking a cup of tea. Only a few feet away was his daughter. She was currently playing in the grass, pretending she was in a battle as she waved her wooden needle around. She was only 5 years old, yet she had enough energy to run around for 8 hours straight. She had dragged him out here so she could show him a few tricks she learned, but she had to stop her showcase when she tried to climb onto the roof. It’s a good thing she was happy to play around on the field, as the King could have a little peace on his short break.</p><p>Unfortunately, the peace didn’t last long, as a clank of metal was heard behind him, before a scream came from it’s location.</p><p>“Pale King!”</p><p>The King was quick turn around and see the accuser, who came forward. He was a bug in crimson armor, two horns coming off the helmet, and a cape. The armored bug was quick to speak, “It time for your reign to end!” It wasn’t hard for the King to recognize this bug.</p><p>Xero. He was a knight-in-training, but was deemed a traitor by the king when he lead 50 rookie guards into a battle with the infected hordes, despite the king forbidding him from the action. Only he came back from the fight alive. He has been imprisoned a few days ago, and was set for execution tomorrow. He found this action strange, since he knew that Xero must’ve been smart enough to know that the plan was suicide, yet Xero was obviously still quite smart, since he obviously found his way out of prison and grabbed his weapons and armor again, since he was fully armored and armed. “Xero.” The King hissed out, “I assume you wanted an earlier execution. Well, I shall make your death qui-“ he stopped when he noticed something about Xero. </p><p>The glowing orange eyes. Golden sludge oozed out of his helmet. </p><p>He was infected.</p><p>“Old Light.” The King spoke with a tinge of terror in his voice. He quickly looked around before calling out. “Guards!” </p><p>Xero laughed, staring at him. “Oh, you foolish king. I assure you, your guards have been dealt with.” He held out an arm, holding the decapitated head of a guard. Blood still dripped from their neck</p><p>The King was horrified, wanting to puke, before he felt a tug at his coat. He looked down, to see Hornet looking up at him, worry painting her face. “Papa, why Xewo being so scawy? Does he wanna huwt me? Does he wanna huwt you?” She began to tremble, as the King responded. “Sweetie I want you to go and hide. I’ll deal with him.” </p><p>This didn’t seem to reassure her, as she only seemed more scared. “But Papa! Wud if he huwts you?” The King sighed and looked back at her. “Don’t worry, sweetie. I’m going to be ok. I just need you to be safe.” Hornet seemed to understand as she began to run.</p><p>The King turned around to see Xero dangerously close to him, both nails unsheathed, and running toward him. The King had a barely any time to react, quickly summoning a Soul nail and blocking his attacks. The courtyard quickly became a furious whirlwind of clangs and screams. Multiple times, Xero’s nails came in contact with the King’s chitin, the King letting out pained yelps from each slice. Xero may be heavily armored, but he was fast and strong. The King tried to go airborne, flaring out his wings. Before he could take flight, Xero was already next to him and sliced right through his wings. The King screamed in pain, before warping away. He stood far from Xero and started to focus his soul. As long as he landed a few of these blasts, Xero would be gone. Xero, however, had a different plan, as he turned and saw Hornet poking her head out from behind a statue. He darted straight for her.</p><p>The King saw Xero running toward Hornet and quickly grew panicked. It didn’t take long for his next action, since he didn’t have much time.</p><p>He already allowed so many of his own children to die. He wouldn’t stand back and allow his daughter to die as well.</p><p>Before anyone even knew what happened, the King was standing between Hornet and Xero.</p><p>A nail embedded through his chest.</p><p>Hornet cried out “PAPA!” But before she could reach her dad, Xero began to laugh maniacally and grabbed the King by the neck. Hornet ran and hid behind a statue again, tears falling down her cheeks.</p><p>“Well, look how the mighty fall.” Xero cackled, and threw the King on the ground. Before the King could do anything, Xero began to tear apart his chitin, nails slicing and stabbing into his flesh. The King cried out in pain from each attack, as the nails repeatedly went straight through his torso, and his spine was cut clean through. </p><p>The King layed down, barely moving, when Xero picked him up again, holding him by the neck. “The Radiance would like to speak to you.” The infection on his arms began to slither to his hands and wormed it’s way into the King’s flesh. The King weeped in agony, it hurt so much. His vision began to be clouded by the orange glow. He felt like he was half asleep, before a gold light appeared before him.</p><p>The Radiance.</p><p> “Well, hello Wyrm.” Her voice was calm, but the King could hear the malice beneath her words. He refused to respond to her, half since he hated even the SIGHT of her, much less speaking to her, and half since he was more focused on his bleeding out body. The Radiance was quick to notice his silence, “Hmm, not much of a talker today, are we?  Well, that is no matter. In not much time, you will be nothing more than my puppet.” The King had a look of fear form on his face, before the Radiance spoke again, a sadistic look growing on her face. “Yes, in but a few minutes, I will have control of your body and I’ll use it however I like, and all you’ll be able to do is WATCH.” The King pulled in and out panicked breaths before he responded in a raspy, pained voice, “You can’t do this. I won’t let you do thi-“ He stopped speaking and began coughing, silver blood speckles falling from his mouth. The Radiance grinned, before gazing back into the outside world and spotting something of interest. </p><p> Hornet. </p><p> The Radiance looked back at the King, who already looked mortified. “I think I might even know a way to break you down even faster.” Before the King could speak, Xero was already walking over to Hornet, nails still stained with blood. </p><p> No no nononono! No, she couldn’t do this! Hornet was innocent! She didn’t deserve any of this! He couldn’t let this happen! He focused all his soul into his hand, barely able to control his physical body, and tried to do something, SOMETHING to stop Xero. There had to be something he could do, there had to be something- </p><p> *shwing* </p><p> The King felt dizzy and had to focus on what he saw in front of him. Hornet was standing next to the body of Xero. There were soul nails digging through his armor and his head laid, disconnected, next to his body. It didn’t take long for the King to faint, as he was fully pulled into the dream realm and soon, he was once again face-to-face with the Radiance, who looked furious. </p><p> “So, even when you are about to die, you only care about ruining my plans?! I’ve had enough of you, you pathetic king! You have been nothing but a pest since you first arrived in my lands, and I intend to make sure you will never bother me again!” A blast of golden light was shot at the King. It enveloped his form, as he screamed in agony. It felt like his body was breaking apart, being vaporized by the light. It burned. The Radiance grinned a cruel smile, before she noticed something. </p><p> He WAS breaking apart. His arms were breaking down and vanishing into essence, and it didn’t take long for the rest of his form to come along with, as he slowly fell apart. Soon, all that was left was his lifeless head, which didn’t stay around for long. His whole form had vanished, and the mindscape around the Radiance began to dissipate, until she was floating in a white void. </p><p> She did it. He was gone. Though, she didn’t mean to do it this early, she still did it. She won. </p><p> The King was dead. </p><p>—————————————————————</p><p> Hornet stood, staring at the body in front of her. Xero laid motionless, and blood spilled out from his wounds. Why did Xero do this? He was nice and funny and Hornet liked spending time with him when Papa was busy. 3 days ago, though, Papa said that she wouldn’t be able to see Xero again, since he did something very bad and would have to leave for that. Now, Xero laid dead in front of her. She would’ve broken down and cried for him if it wasn’t for the other body that laid on the courtyard. </p><p> “PAPA!” Hornet yelled as she ran over to the body of the King. He didn’t move at all, simply laying there, with his head facing to the side. “Papa, wake up!” She grabbed his hand and held it tight, yet the King gave no response, only blankly staring off. “Please, Papa, wake up....” she spoke softly as tears overwhelmed her eyes and choked her voice. Still, the King didn’t respond to it. His dark eyes never blinked. He did nothing as she tightened her grip on his pale hand. He did nothing about his bleeding wounds. </p><p> He was gone. </p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Did y’all cry? Good, because I’m sad as well and I need to sleep.</p></blockquote></div></div>
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